L’chaim - To Life!
The wonderful thing about spring is that is invites us to take delight in the simplest of things: shoots of green grass, budding plants, chirping birds, bluer skies and glorious sunlight.
For some strange reason it evokes a childhood memory of singing loudly in assemblies - the hymn, ‘All things bright and beautiful’- a song of praise about everything God has created. But how often, I wonder, do we stop to consider that we, not the heavens or the plants or the animals are the masterpiece of God’s creation? In the midst of this spectacularly breathtaking universe, he has chosen to reflect his image and likeness in us mortals. In Psalm 8 David exclaims:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
This seems all the more miraculous when we reflect on the fact that God formed, fashioned and breathed life into us. Then again when we cut ourselves off from that life, that he himself restored it through Christ’s atonement so that our spirits could be born again! Yet he didn’t stop there, again he sent his Spirit to reside in us and we are now able to be continually filled with his Spirit!
Sacrum Vitae
Blessed be your never-ending fount
that springs eternal.
The source of all life
that breathes
and pours
and floods
thrice given and thrice received
from Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Yahweh, El Elyon, Almighty God
what have we done that you love us so
and grant with such bountiful liberty your very essence
again and
again
and again,
so that this life you give
eclipses all we can imagine,
or sense or see.
We, being only finite earthen vessels
found worthy of bearing your resplendent glory!
Divinity in perpetuity imprinted on
the souls of men
Wellspring of life
bubbling,
gushing
flowing
source of everlasting regeneration.
Blessed be your never- ending fount
that springs eternal.
Dear friends, the joyous truth is that we do not need to wait for the season of Spring every year for life anew to spring forth, for there is yet a well of life within that never runs dry!
Today’s Poet’s Corner was written by Timali Ebanks, and is arranged each month by our resident poet, Steve Page.
